Monthly Archives: June 2010

According to the Washington Post, there is rising fear that our economy is headed for a “double-dip” recession due to a slowdown in China, concern over the strength of the European banking system, and diminishing consumer confidence here in the U.S. The drop in consumer confidence is quite remarkable. The Conference Board’s index showed a decline from 62.7 percent in May to 52.9 percent in June. Experts had expected no »

Elena Kagan isn’t just the potential fifth vote for standard issue left-wing mischief (if the Democrats are able to replace one of the four and a half Justices standing in the way). She’s a cutting edge mischief maker in her own right. For example, Kagan was unable to testify, in response to a question from Senator Coburn, that the federal government lacks the power under the Commerce Clause to dictate »

The Portland Police Department is reopening its investigation into sexual assault charges against Al Gore. Police said Wednesday they are reopening an investigation into a Portland massage therapist’s allegations that former Vice President Al Gore groped her at an upscale hotel in 2006. In a brief statement, the Portland Police Bureau did not say why it was reopening the investigation. Maybe it’s because the massage therapist has DNA evidence. And »

I wrote here about Elena Kagan’s role as point person for the Clinton administration on partial-birth abortion, and the fact that she collaborated in twisting a report by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology in a more pro-partial-birth abortion direction. None of what follows will make much sense unless you have read last night’s post, so if you haven’t, please do, and then return here. Kagan was asked about »

When Senator Robert Byrd died on Monday, I anticipated that the mainstream media would tend to underplay his racist past. Thus I emphasized it in detail in the obituary posted here. In his subscription email that he calls Morning Jolt (subscribe here), NRO/Campaign Spot’s Jim Geraghty writes: Remember yesterday morning when I told everyone to be on their best behavior about the death of West Virginia senator Robert Byrd? Yeah, »

Andrew Breitbart is the Internet media entrepreneur and proprietor of Big Government, Big Hollywood, and Big Journalism. Breitbart and his team doggedly pursued the story behind the allegations of Reps. Andre Carson, John Lewis. Emanuel Cleaver and James Clyburn that Tea Party protesters abused black congressmen with racial epithets while demonstrating against Obamacare on Capitol Hill on March 20. The story was reported as fact by news organizations including Fox »

Back from the World Cup, and buoyed by his success in helping Blanche Lincoln defeat Bill Halter in Arkansas, Bill Clinton has endorsed former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff who is challenging appointed Colorado Democratic Senator Michael Bennet in a primary. Clinton’s endorsement puts Clinton on the opposite side from the White House. Readers may recall that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina attempted to induce Romanoff not »

I wrote here about the ineptitude of the Toronto Police Department in containing the criminal element that turned out for the G-20 meeting there. Some think I was a little harsh, in that the Toronto PD meant well, but was outsmarted by the rioters. I’m not sure that’s a great defense, but it is noted. Meanwhile, civilization’s first and principal line of defense isn’t the police department, it is the »

Shannen Coffin was a deputy attorney general during the Bush administration, and was charged with defending the federal partial-birth abortion act in court. At National Review, he writes that documents released by the Clinton White House show Elena Kagan’s “willingness to manipulate medical science to fit the Democratic party’s political agenda on the hot-button issue of abortion.” The account, if it is true, is a shocking one. A key event »

Dave Weigel has gone to work for MSNBC. Seems like a good fit. PAUL adds: It is a good fit. The Post tried to pass Weigel off as a conservative voice, or at least a voice that was somewhat sympathetic to conservatives. But for the publication of his juvenile emails, that fraud would be ongoing. At MSNBC, it will be clear to all that Weigel is just another ill-mannered lefty »

Professor Adam Winkler takes issue with my suggestion that, if confirmed, Elena Kagan will likely become one of our very most aggressive justices. He writes: Will Kagan really become, as Paul Mirengoff suggests, “one of our very most aggressive justices”? I doubt it and suspect she’s likely to disappoint those on the left searching for a bold, activist justice in the mold of William Brennan. She’s a progressive, but will »

In the Spectator, Melanie Phillips provides the latest chapter in a long, sad story. This time, it is Hamas burning summer camps for children in Gaza: All those who believe Gaza is in need of more international aid should be aware of what has now happened twice to summer camps for children in Gaza that are run by the UN. Foreign Policy magazine reports: Last night, 25 armed, masked men »

These days, there is no more effective public servant than New Jersey’s governor Chris Christie. In this CNBC video, he runs a victory lap following the New Jersey legislature’s adoption of his austerity budget on a bipartisan basis. The budget closes a massive deficit by cutting spending by 9%, with no increased taxes. Every special interest group hated the budget, and some have threatened to sue. Governor Christie’s response: “If »

We learned from the mainstream media during the administration of George W. Bush that the politicization of justice is a grave offense (even if Bush didn’t commit it). In the first year of the Obama administration, we saw how justice can be politicized when the Department of Justice dismissed the civil rights charges brought against the New Black Panther Party for voter intimidation at a polling station in Philadelphia on »

Today is the centennial anniversary of the birth of American songwriter supreme Frank Loesser. Loesser prospered writing songs for the movies, for the war and for Broadway. As John Bush writes in his Allmusic profile of Loesser, “it appears that Frank Loesser had several careers packed into his one life.” Loesser wrote “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” in April 1942. It was only the second song for which »

I’m old enough to remember when people took Russian spies seriously. Today, it seems like a weird anachronism to read that ten alleged Russian spies have been arrested: The FBI has arrested 10 people for allegedly serving for years as secret agents of Russia’s intelligence organ, the SVR, with the goal of penetrating U.S. government policymaking circles. … According to the court papers, unsealed Monday, the FBI intercepted a message »